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John F. Kennedy addition is 93 percent finished

Move in date set for July 28

SPRING VALLEY — The new John F. Kennedy building addition project is honing in on its completion date.

At the Spring Valley Elementary School Board meeting on Wednesday, architect Bill VanDusen reported the project was 93 percent completed.

During the past month, many of the construction trades have been finishing up with their last jobs and are working on final details.

In his construction progress report, VanDusen said painting in the classrooms is nearing completion; the hanging of the ceiling clouds in the multi-purpose room is almost finished; the gymnasium and stage flooring in being laid; the gymnasium bleachers have arrived on site and will be installed when the flooring work is completed; cabinetry is being hung in classrooms; the kitchen equipment has been installed; carpentry is being laid down in the choir room; and lockers are being installed in the main corridor.

On the outside of the building addition, the trade trailers have been removed from the parking lot, along with storage units and debris, and construction workers have poured the first section of the new parking lot.

VanDusen is still looking at a completion date of July 28.

Superintendent Jim Hermes took a moment on Wednesday to recognize the work accomplished by Williams Brothers Construction.

“It’s a beautiful building, and in a few months we will have our first board meeting in that building,” he said.

Hermes pointed out all he has learned during the construction progress and recognized Phil Heppard, Chris Rossman and Matt Cochran for their hard work and leadership skills during the year-long project.

Hermes said he’s been happy with the work that has been done and is looking forwarded to the new building addition in the next couple months.

Property taxes

Hermes also briefly reported on property taxes.

He reminded 75 percent of the new building addition project was funded by the state, and while the school district has a $5 million bond out, it has been being paid on for the last five years.

“With the taxpayers, bills are not going up because of the building addition project. They have already been paying for it for five years,” he said. “(Taxes) have gone up slightly due to a drop in EAV (equalized assessed valuation) because property values have all dropped, but that’s all over. It’s just a trend throughout the country.”

Hermes said he can’t mention it enough, but there should be no surprises on taxes on the Spring Valley Elementary School District’s end.

Safe routes to school

Hermes said he received a call from Spring Valley Mayor Walt Marini, who said the city council was going to continue in the direction they wanted with the traffic light at Strong Avenue, despite the school board’s disagreement with the decision.

“This week, a couple of community (members) expressed concerns over students walking down Strong Avenue,” Hermes said. “Some people have requested doing a survey with parents to let people know what everyone is thinking about students walking down Strong Avenue.”